"He's taught me a lot" - Nathan Lyon on R Ashwin

Veteran Australia spinner Nathan Lyon applauded star India spinner R Ashwin, considering the significant influence Ashwin has had on his career as well. The Australian spinner also named Ashwin as one of his mentors, particularly during his preparations for tours to India as well. However, Lyon has often seen footage of R Ashwin's bowling on the subcontinent's spin-friendly pitches to know his strategies and improve his own game too.

"He's taught me a lot," Lyon admitted. "I'm a big believer that the players you compete against are your best coaches. I've watched a lot of his footage heading over to India, the way he goes about it here in Australia, and see if I can pick up anything."

R Ashwin to play a key role for India

However, both the bowlers have done well in their respective careers, with Lyon generating overspin and bounce on Australian pitches, while R Ashwin has the ability to bowl relentlessly with many variations, including his famous carrom ball as well.

Reflecting on this, Nathan Lyon jokingly shared that star Indian all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja's close watch on media reports, adding, "I know Jadeja reads all of this stuff, so I can't really share all my secrets." However, he did share insight into his approach: "My big thing is spinning up the back of the ball and getting bounce, but it's a hard craft to be able to do that in Australia. Your margin for error is extremely small."

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As the Test series approaches, Nathan Lyon also opened up on the challenge of facing a world-class Indian side. Despite Australia's recent win over India in the World Test Championship final, Lyon said that India have the upper hand in the Border-Gavaskar series, with the Australians failing to register a Test series win in India in nearly a decade as well.

"India's got the wood over us in the past few series" - Nathan Lyon

"India's got the wood over us in the past few series, but if you're looking at the World Test Championship (final) in England, we were able to beat them there, and I know that should give us a bit of confidence heading into this summer," Nathan Lyon concluded. "I feel like we're on the journey to becoming a great team. We're not there yet, there's a bit of work to do, but we have the opportunity to do something pretty special this summer."

However, India, currently ranked No. 2 in the world, will try to bounce back from a 3-0 series whitewash to New Zealand as well. And cricket fans can expect thrilling encounters between the two sides as well.